MP pledges vigorous pursuit of Prestwick Rendition flights

Exclusive: MP pledges vigorous pursuit of Prestwick rendition

Labour MP Brian Donohoe, constituency MP for Prestwick Airport where illegal rendition flights were reportedly staged, has told The Firm he will pursue allegations of rendition via his constituency if “firm evidence” is available.

Donohoe was once again pressed on the issue following the raising of the issue at The Firm Events series on 28 August.

Donohoe had previously told The Firm that he was satisfied planes passing through Prestwick had not been involved in renditions. In response to a questionput to him by Event attendee Mark Leiser, a PhD candidate at Starthclyde University, Donohoe has now pledged to take the matter forward.

“There is certainly contrary speculation but nothing has ever been confirmed that Prestwick at any time had planes landing with prisoners on board,” he said.

“I of course condemn any torture of prisoners which is illegal under the Geneva Convention and if firm evidence was available I would pursue this with vigour.”

In 2007 EU Commissioner Giovanni Fava published a report naming Prestwick airport among several favoured by the CIA as a host of its torture flights.

In 2011, the EU Council of Europe reporter Dick Marty produced a 48-page report: “Abuse of State Secrecy and National Security”, which investigated how countries including Britain, Germany, Romania and Lithuania assisted the US with the rendition of terror suspects.

It said a “cult of secrecy” had helped Western governments cover up abuses.

In 2010 the Westminster all party Parliamentary group debated whether the crime of rendition should be formalised and written into law as a statutory offence.